Sunday, October 11, 2015

Rob Lowe's redemption

As I mentioned recently, Mary and I have been watching Parks and Rec with Natalie.  One thing I've been digging is Rob Lowe's character Chris Treager, though perhaps not even so much the character himself as the fact that Lowe is so able to enjoy playing him.

He was always an easy guy to hate, such a pretty boy -- kinda Christian Laetner-like, and then when he got snagged for sex tapes back in the 80s, it was easy to pile onto him.  In retrospect, his transgressions (having sex with a fan above the age of consent but too young to be filmed) seem relatively minor.  Compare him to Kobe Bryant, or Bill Cosby, or Tiger Woods, or Woody Allen...

In the end, whatever, he goofed up a little while younger and got dinged for it.  Looking down his filmography, I don't see any masterpieces he's acted in, but then again I'm out of the flow of movies a little bit.

But in Parks and Rec, he's good, he's funny.  Admittedly, it is still not the most multi-faceted character of all time, but it's a sitcom, and his character is good-hearted and self-effacing.

I think I pull for him in the same way I pull for Fernando Torres of Atletico Madrid, another pretty boy who has been brought low and is fighting back.

And now, it is time for me to go and kill weeds growing up the dam behind my house. Not fun, but needs to be done.

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